Ferguson shooting: Police swarm home in St Louis suburb after 'ambush' of officers

Kate Munsch

Ferguson: The shooting of two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, during a protest rally has sparked an intense manhunt and ratcheted up tensions in a city at the centre of a national debate over race and policing.

US President Barack Obama and Attorney-General Eric Holder condemned the attack on the officers, who were treated at a local hospital and released, as law enforcement officers in tactical gear swarmed a home in the St Louis suburb, looking for a suspect. Television images showed officers on the roof breaking into the attic with heavy tools.

US Attorney General condemns Ferguson attacks

US Attorney General Eric Holder has spoken out against the shooting of two police officers in Ferguson, calling the attack an 'ambush.'

St Louis County police spokesman Shawn McGuire said people were taken from the house but there have been no arrests so far. He would not confirm media reports that two men and a woman were led away.

It was announced that St Louis County police and the Missouri State Highway Patrol would take over security for protests in Ferguson after the shooting. The forces would take control at 6pm local time, the second time they have been brought in to quell unrest. They will handle protests until further notice in the town wracked by unrest since a white policeman killed an unarmed black teenager in August, the county said. The town's police department will still handle routine matters.

Searching for evidence in a neighbourhood from where the gunshots were believed to have been fired from. Photo: AFP

Long-simmering tensions between African-Americans and Ferguson's mostly white police force came to a boil in August when a white policeman killed an unarmed black teenager. The shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown led to a coast-to-coast wave of demonstrations last year.

The shooting of the police officers came just hours after Ferguson police chief Thomas Jackson, announced he would resign, a move greeted with praise from protesters. Ever since the shooting of Mr Brown, Chief Jackson had been at the centre of criticism that he ran a racially biased and abusive department.

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Last week, the US Justice Department released a scathing report that accused the city of racially biased and unconstitutional practices in law enforcement. Since then, in addition to Jackson, the city manager, the municipal judge, and two police commanders have said they were leaving their jobs, and the court's chief clerk was fired - changes that city officials had hoped would persuade residents that they were prepared to start anew.

Around midnight on Wednesday, local time, gunfire rang out, leaving a 41-year-old St. Louis County Police officer with a shoulder wound and a 32-year- old officer from nearby Webster Groves Police Department with a bullet lodged near his ear, St Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said.

"This is really an ambush, is what it is," Chief Belmar said. "You can't see it coming. You don't understand that it's going to happen."

The shootings were "inexcusable and repugnant," Mr Holder said in a statement. "Such senseless acts of violence threaten the very reforms that non-violent protesters in Ferguson and around the country have been working towards."

Police investigate the scene where two police officers were shot. Photo: AP

He said the US Justice Department and FBI stood ready to help find the person responsible.

"This was not someone trying to bring healing to Ferguson, this was a damn punk," he said.

Chief Belmar told a news conference authorities had possible leads in finding whoever was responsible. He said the shooter used a handgun and shell casings had been recovered.

"This is No. 1 priority of St. Louis County police to identify that individual or individuals," said Chief Belmar, who leads the police force in the county that includes Ferguson. Officers did not return fire but may shoot back in future, he said.

"I have said all along that we cannot sustain this forever without problems," he said, referring to festering tensions in the city since Mr Brown's death.

The shooting incident came less than three months after a man ambushed and killed two New York City patrolmen, saying he sought to avenge the killings of Mr Brown and an unarmed black man in New York City. In both cases, grand juries decided against bringing criminal charges.

"We reject any kind of violence directed toward members of law enforcement," Mr Brown's family said in a statement. "We specifically denounce the actions of stand-alone agitators who unsuccessfully attempt to derail the otherwise peaceful and non-violent movement that has emerged throughout this nation to confront police brutality."

Police and protesters appeared to disagree about where the shots came from, with Belmar asserting they came from the middle of the crowd gathered in front of police headquarters.

However protesters at the scene insisted on social media that the shots came from further away.

"The shooter was not with the protesters. The shooter was atop the hill," activist DeRay McKesson said on Twitter. "I was here. I saw the officer fall. The shot came from at least 500 feet away from the officers," he said.